âThat wasâ¦wow!â Chris said. âWant to do it again?â
Alyssa laughed then rolled over to look at his face. âHell, yes. You?â
âAbsolutely.â He kissed her hard. âBut I need a moment to recharge.â
âTelevision?â
âSeems appropriate,â he said, grappling for the remote.
âDonât even think you get to be in charge of that thing,â she said. âWe are not watching sports after sex.â
âSports after sex is a time-honored tradition,â he insisted. âLike a cigarette.â
âI donât smoke,â she said, leaning across him. âSo give me the remote.â
âTry and get it,â he said, scooting away from her. Then he stopped. âWait a minute. See, this is how it starts. First sex. Then a power struggle for the remote. Weâre well on our way to coupledom.â
Coupledom.
The word echoed in Alyssaâs head, killing her smile. This was supposed to be only a fling, not a relationship. But how was she supposed to let Chris in on that secret?
CLIP-CLOP, clip-clop, clip-clop.
Prince Robert lifted his head and whinnied, to the delight of all six people riding in the horse-drawn carriage.
In the back row, Alyssa Chambers snuggled under the blanket, a cup of warm cider held tightly in her hand. The soft strains of Bing Crosby crooning âWinter Wonderlandâ drifted back from the speakers hidden low on the carriage side walls. Colored holiday lights sparkled in the fog, the mist giving them an ethereal quality that seemed appropriate for the Christmas season.
The carriage moved steadily down the street, providing Alyssa and the other passengers a stunning view of the ornate homes in Dallasâs Highland Park neighborhood, now shining and sparkling for the holidays.
âOh, man,â Claire Daniels moaned. âIsnât this just the most romantic night ever?â
Beside her, Alyssa turned, brows raised. âUm, hello? Dateless, remember?â
Claire lifted her chin. âIâm practicing the power of positive thinking.â
Alyssa glanced at the two rows in front of them. Two rows with four people. Two couples. Two guys. Two girls. And they were snuggled under blankets, arms around each other, oblivious to the lights, the musicâeverything but each other.
And Alyssa, well aware that she was enjoying a romantic carriage ride with her best friend instead of a boyfriend, swallowed hard on the jealousy that rose in her throat.
âPositive thinking, huh?â she asked. âIs it working?â If it was, she was going to have to try itâreally try it. Because despite all the ho-ho-ho and happy-holiday festivities that Dallas offered up during late December, Alyssa wasnât feeling the seasonal love.
âNot in the least,â admitted Claire. Sheâd broken up with her boyfriend a few months prior. Or, rather, heâd broken up with her. And the loss of Joe had hit Claire where it countedâher pride.
Alyssa frowned, her mind whirring as she sat quietly in the carriage, plotting creative ways to torture the idiot who had decided that Christmas events should be designed for couples.
Party hosts expected you to arrive with a date. The theater sold dinner-and-show packages for two. Even the carriage ride to see the famous Highland Park lights seated you in even numbers, as if you werenât anybody unless you were part of a pair.
Was it any wonder the suicide rate increased during the holidays?
Alyssa had been single since summer, when sheâd broken up once and for all with her boyfriend Bob. It had been a particularly unpleasant breakup, since theyâd started out as friends. Good friends. Solid. But after a while, theyâd started dancing around the attraction thing, and before Alyssa knew it they were out on a date, and then they were in bed and then they were a couple staring down the road of life to marriage and kids and a dog.
At first, that had seemed perfect. But then little things started to get in the way, and soon, neither Alyssa nor Bob could even remember why theyâd been friends. They seemed so uniquely unright for each other that even the memory of the times they used to just hang together had been tarnished.
The breakup had been worse because it had been two breakups: one with the lover and one with the friend. And as an added injustice, Alyssa had been dateless ever since.